What’s in a name? A person? A world? the Universe? Eternity?
The names of Godard all of these. Take some moments and think about the rich depth of meaning in the names of God. This is your God in all His glorious Majesty, Mighty and Magnificence!
Light of the Gospel
Light is such a powerful factor with God and is mentioned often:
“In him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4,5)
“The true light (Jesus) that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” John 1:9 (note that word “everyone”)
Satan knows the importance of light: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Cor 4:4
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Pet 2:9
“…the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
“You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” 1 Thes 5:5
And Peter Adds a beautiful Description of light in our lives: “…pay attention to the prophetic message (of Christ), as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”
Here’s how we can apply this emphasis: ever walking in the light, moving forward in the light of Scripture:
“But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.” To live without Christ is to live in darkness, where people can’t see the pitfalls Satan has for us. So they keep making the same mistakes over and over.
In contrast “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18,19.
As we come to Christ, it is the first light of morning, then as we walk with Him, the Son rises and gives us more and more light. Let’s go on with Him, ever more into the LIGHT!
The Outcomes
Now for the climax in 2 Peter 1.
After urging us to add to our faith knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love and agape love, Peter goes on to tell of the rewards for doing this–great rewards.
2 Peter 1:8, “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There is the prescription for spiritual success in life! Adding and using these qualities which God has provided for us will make us effective and productive in our walk with Him. What believer wouldn’t want that?
Then in verse 10, is the second reward. “For if you do these things, you will never stumble….” By adding these qualities, we will be guided around the traps, pitfalls and dangers in life. We be protected and carried forward by His power, brining honor to Him.
Then third, in verse 11 comes the final reward, “…you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” As we cooperate and obey Him, when we get to Heaven there will be a rich celebration for us. Maybe a choir of angles, a large orchestra, a parade. It won’t be something small. But if we don’t add these qualities, we will get in, but without any fanfare, kind of being let in by the back door. Which would you prefer?
God is so good to us, laying things out so clearly, and making them doable. Let’s join Him, “making every effort to add to our faith……”
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Picture: And our arrival in Heaven will be a rich celebration–if we make every effort to add…..
Add Well!
More on 2 Peter 1:5-7
We’ve looked at the first four of the seven gifts God has given to add to our faith (virtue, knowledge, self-control and endurance).
The next quality is godliness, something not hard to define. It is being like God, thinking his thoughts, developing His qualities in my life, like grace, mercy, goodness, kindness and forgiveness.
Godlines comes in the list right after endurance because, as we endure through difficult times, as we look to God for help, insight, direction, transformation come. As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18,
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
So as we gaze on Him in our troubles, He makes us more godly! Without suffering, difficulties, problems this would not happen as much.
Then come brotherly kindness. Why does it come so far down the list? Because we need to have the other qualities to fully love our brothers and sisters, who can be prickly, difficult and troublesome (as can we be at times). But if we have added the first 5 qualities, we are equipped to deal with difficult situations. The key point is mentioned later in the chapter: whoever does not have them [these qualities] is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. If we remember how much we have been forgiven, it is much easier to forgive others and love them.
And last comes love, but not just any love, this is agape love, the love of God that goes on no matter how we respond. And this is the love we are to have not just for believers, but for the world, the lost, hurting people in the world. It is God’s desire that all be saved, and He gives us a part in this. As we love others we will share our faith with them.
I would suggest that you begin to add these qualities by praying through them each morning, asking God to help you add them.
Tomorrow we will look at the amazing results of consistency adding these seven qualities.
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Adding with all desire
More on 2 Peter’s description of God’s gifts to us—specifically the first three tools.
Foundationally, faith is the gift God gives us so we can believe: Peter writes to “those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours….”
Then he commands us to add to our faith the other gifts in a specific order, and to do so with “every effort.”
First, “..make every effort to add to your faith virtue….” Virtue is basically agreeing with God, doing what He wants us to do. And it involves making up our minds ahead of time to obey. To give a couple of simple examples, I don’t wait until Sunday morning to decide to go to church or not; no, I make up my mind to just go every Sunday. Or I don’t wait until each morning to decide to have a quiet time or not; I just make a decision to do it every day. This is true for every decision: not adultery, no lying, no cheating, no stealing, etc.
Then to virtue, we are to add knowledge. This is application of virtue, delving into the Word, reading, memorizing, meditating. Thus we can think God’s thoughts and know what He wants us to do. Without this knowledge we are left to flounder with our warped natural ideas.
Then to knowledge we are to add self-control. Simply put, this means doing what we know to be right. We now have the knowledge to know what is right. We don’t always want to do that, but acting out of virtue, and taking up and using self-control, we can overcome our negative natural desires and do what is right, good, godly.
Next comes endurance. This is next because even when we do the right thing, we may get flack. Share about Jesus and some will object. But we shouldn’t give up because of that opposition. We press on with endurance, which means “moving through with power.” (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus is our example:” fixing our eyes on Jesus” who “for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So we, too can endure as we take up His endurance.
More tomorrow.
Picture: endurance
Tools for the Kingdom Life
Tonight I had a Bible study with a friend, looking at 2 Peter 1:1-8. It struck me again what tremendous, wonderful and amazing truths there are in this passage. Let me mention three.
Verse 3: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life…” EVERYTHING! We already have it—we just have to learn to appropriate and use what He’s given us, such as patience, grace, joy, peace and self-control. For instance patience: when stressed, we can turn to God saying,”Thank you for this hold up, Lord. I repent of my impatience and take up your great patience, remembering that my times are in your hands.”
Then verse 4 with an even more astounding statement: “…through his very great and precious promises you may participate in the divine nature….” Participate in the DIVINE nature! The nature that created the universe, hung the earth on nothing, redeemed our lives. This nature resides in us as the Holy Spirit. What a tremendous privilege as every day we walk around with the divine nature within us, with us, working through us. What a great truth!
And verse 5 says, “…make every effort to add to your faith goodness… knowledge…self-control…perseverance…godliness…mutual affection…love.” What this means is that God has provided these things for us to take up and add. It is like God has presented us with a big box filled with tools for living a godly life. If we don’t open the box and take up the tools, they are useless to us. So, God has laid out the course, readied the supplies, we only need to learn to take them up and add them. What wonderful provision. Are we going to join Him in the adventure?
Tomorrow we’ll talk more about appropriating and using these spiritual “tools” God has given us.
Triple Blessings
The Apostle Peter was a man on threes. He denied Jesus three times, and Jesus restored him by asking him three times, “Do you love me?”
And following Jesus’ example, in 2 Peter 12-15, the Apostle gives us a triple reminder: “So I will always REMIND you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to REFRESH YOUR MEMORY as long as I live in the tent of this body…And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to REMEMBER these things.
In our culture, repetition is not a valued thing—we hear it once and that’s enough. But biblically, repetition is highly valued and important—both because there are always new things to learn from Scripture, and because we all need ongoing reminders of Truth. For example, I have to remind myself to not complain (a very natural thing for me) but to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving (a supernatural thing to do.
In following Peter’s example, every morning my wife and I pray on the armor of Ephesians 6:10-18, and it is always a good reminder of the battle we are about to enter. It’s like “tuning up” our thinking, preparing us for what may come.
So don’t shy away from repetition of truth, in fact aggressively employ it so that Truth can sink deeply into your soul and then come out in biblical living.
What would Satan have you do?
“For we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand.” Ephesians 6:11
While talking recently with a person struggling with feelings of inadequacy, any advice I gave proved to be totally ineffective. Then a thought came to mind that turned out to be the key to opening the door to this person’s emotional prison.
“This feeling of inadequacy is exactly what Satan wants you to focus on. Of course we are inadequate; we are human beings and have limitations. In contrast, God wants us to focus on Him, to find our adequacy in Him, our acceptance in Him, our worth and joy in Him.
“Satan, however, wants us to focus on what we can’t do; he wants us to work for our worth and to seek for the elusive happiness of accomplishment. So, whose lead are you going to follow? Are you going to fall into devil’s trap, or sidestep it with God’s truth?”
Asking “What would Jesus do in this situation?” helps us think biblically. Adding the question, “What would Satan want me to do?” will bring additional biblical clarity. Paul refers to this in Ephesians 6 when he says, “Put on the whole armor of God so you will not fall in to the wiles of the devil.”
Picture: remember what happened when others listened to the lies of the serpent!
7 Qualities to bring peace
More on things that hamper peacemaking. Last night we talked about the trap of being a victim which short-circuits resolving conflicts.
Now we will talk about the other obstacle. This is seeing ourselves as better than those sorry people who hurt us. By looking down on them, we can excuse our unforgiveness because they, of course, do not deserve to be forgiven.
However, In having this attitude, we fail again to take up the grace of God, to see the reality that we are all sinners. In 2 Peter 1:5-7, the Holy Spirit lists out seven qualities we are to take up and use in our lives:
–virtue, (agreeing with God)
–knowledge (of Jesus and our natural condition of depravity, along with our unnatural condition of being forgiven, adopted and dearly loved by God),
–self-control (doing what we know is right, like forgiving),
–endurance (pressing on with what is right even when things don’t work out),
–godliness, (thinking and acting like God),
–brotherly kindness (the essence of peace making),
–and agape love (love that is not influenced by the response of others).
Looking at that list is impressive—if we added those qualities regularly, conflicts could be quickly resolved from our side.
Then God goes on to say that “whoever does not have these qualities in his life is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” This leads to thinking of himself better than others.
In contrast, He says of those who DO add these qualities, “they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So if we want to be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus, here is a clear map to achieve that.
Humility is a key part of peace making, and humility can be defined as “seeing ourselves as God sees us,” both in our depravity and in our redeemed, imputed righteousness.
When we move towards this, we can forgive, remembering how much we have been forgiven, we can let go of our hurt and with God’s grace rise above the difficulties of life. This help make peace in the most difficult relationships, thereby pleasing and honoring God!
